dipping into the midi pool

wrongtown

New member
Hello everyone.

I've been recording with a Roland VS-880 for a number of years, but have never utilized the midi capabilities of my machine.

I recently aquired some ancient gear for free, and I'm wondering how I should go about adding it into my setup, takinging full advantage of my midi options and computer editing.

I would also like to know exactly what I will now be able to do with a Korg M1.

Anyhow, here is my new (but old) gear:

Korg M1
2 ART multieffect processors
Alesis HR-16 (I love this machine)

I do understand the premise of MIDI, and I've hooked everything up and been able to sync everything, but I'm under the impression there is so much more then simply syncing a buch of gear. Can I tell the effects processor to change to patch 56 at measure 25? Can I record midi info to control the M1 and HR-16?

I realize these may be simple tasks, but like I said, I'm fairly new to the MIDI experience.

Thanks
 
Can I tell the effects processor to change to patch 56 at measure 25? Can I record midi info to control the M1 and HR-16?

u bet. all you need to do is to have a sequencer send a "program change" msg on the correct channel. You can also control any midi controlable parameter on anything, all you need to know is which CC (control change) channel it is set to receive on (in the manual). The best thing to do would be to get a midi to usb interface and then use something like midi ox to send the appropriate msgs and just record them with the sequencer. I u like the HR-16, check out the mmt-8
 
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Here are links to three good articles on midi basics --- part one, part two and part three.

The M1 has a sequencer on board, but it has a very small memory by modern standards. It might hold a piano part with a string part and a bass part for a single song and will lock to your VS880 by running a midi cable from the midi out of the VS880 to the midi in of the M1 and putting the M1 in external clock/sync mode. With a second midi cable you could run out of the midi thru on the M1 to the midi in of the HR-16 and put that in the mode in which it recieves midi clock.

If you want to look around the MMT-8 that Altitude mentioned is the sequencer companion unit to the HR-16. They share the same grey plastic chassis, but since their functions differ they have different front panels. I spent many happy years using a combination of a multitrack recorder with a midi interface, a hardware sequencer and a very similar keyboard to the M1 --- and the music I made then, while more in the traditional dance vein, still stands up today...
 
ssscientist said:
The M1 has a sequencer on board, but it has a very small memory by modern standards. It might hold a piano part with a string part and a bass part for a single song

so I would be better off using my computer as a sequencer yes?

it would be cool to grab a MMT-8 as well. from the little bit of research I've done it would compliment the HR-16.

thanks for the help.
 
Yes.

If you want to go that route you'll need a midi interface for the computer like this and you can use the M1 for a controller.

Download the Tracktion demo here and if you like it as much as I do it's $150 to buy the full version. Or Reaper is another contender which features audio, midi, VST and DX plugin support and it's free while it's still in beta --- get it here.

There are (at least) a few other midi sequence packages available - two popular ones are Jazz+++ and N-Track. And once you've settled on a midi sequencer you can start downloading free VST effects and VST instruments...



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ssscientist said:
If you want to go that route you'll need a midi interface for the computer

my soundcard takes care of that already

ssscientist said:
Download the Tracktion demo ... Or Reaper is another contender which features audio, midi, VST and DX plugin support and it's free while it's still in beta

I currently have acid pro which has a sequencer. any pro's or con's about working with acid?

ssscientist said:
And once you've settled on a midi sequencer you can start downloading free VST effects and VST instruments...

I'm familiar with VST effects (use 'em all the time mastering in wavelab) but not so with VST instruments. are we talking about virtual instruments? I could download say a juno-60?

cheers again for the response



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I currently have acid pro which has a sequencer. any pro's or con's about working with acid?
Acid is fine for audio but kinda quirky as a midi sequencer depending on which version you have. They've gotten more midi-oriented as the versions have progressed. If you've got Acid 5 or Acid 6 (which just came out) you're probably fine. But download Tracktion and Reaper anyway just for the sake of comparison.
I could download say a juno-60?
You'd need a DX to VST wrapper to use this with older versions of Acid, but here's a LINK to a VSTi called Synth1 and another LINK to a virtual synth called Superwave P8 and a last LINK to a synth with the impressive name 'Land of Cockaigne Oberon'. All three are free, and it's well worth considering bumping up to the $30 version of Superwave. None of these is exactly a Juno-60, but with some tweaking they can all come close.
 
sssientist, thanks for all the help and info.

I downloaded reaper, which seems very easy to use. my final question to you, or anyone for that matter would be the physical setup of my stuff.

which machine should be the master, my computer, the vs-880 (recorder), or the m-1? what I would like to have happen is "record" and save my mixes via control change messages from the vs-880 and save them. then playback the midi data telling my recorder about volume changes, pan, etc.

I would also like to save "songs" for the drum machine as pattern changes.

I'm gussing it would go computer out to recorder thru to m1 thru to drum machine thru to effects thru to computer again

I'm unable to experiment right now due to a pending move in two weeks
(all my gear is in boxes) but I hope to brainstorm this to death, so I won't be pulling my hair out when it comes time to rebuild my setup

thanks again
 
Yeah, what altitude said --- the computer should be the master.

Be sure to turn the Local on/off on the M1 'midi' or 'global' page to 'off'. This will break the connection between the keyboard and the sounds inside and is the preferred configuration for computer sequencing.

Good luck, and if you need further help after you get set up again feel free to post again.


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